New Mark III 22/45 and I need a Red-Dot Recommendation..

This is a discussion on New Mark III 22/45 and I need a Red-Dot Recommendation.. within the Ruger Rimfires forums, part of the Pistol & Revolver Forum category; Originally Posted by AZLCR
It's heresy to some, but I put a $35 Tasco red dot from Wallyworld on my MkIII 22/45 and I really ...

It's heresy to some, but I put a $35 Tasco red dot from Wallyworld on my MkIII 22/45 and I really enjoy it - I figured I'd like to try one before investing substantially more on a "good" red dot, but I have not found a reason to change from the Tasco as yet. Particularly at the distances you mention (7-25 yds).. At about 15-20 yds I can hit a 12 gauge hull standing on end on a box, which is accurate enough for me!

My coworker has one of those Wal-Mart Tasco red dots on his Beretta Neo and loves it. .22LR recoil is negligible, so I honestly don't see a pressing need for high end scopes on a .22 unless you're shooting them for scores. For simple plinking, heck even Airsoft scopes will generally work fine.

I mounted a used Tasco Propoint I found in a pawn shop for about $30 on my Ruger MKIII Competition and it works like a dream. Been teaching my husband the basics of pistol shooting and he finds that red dot much easier to sight with than iron. Not at all hard to find inexpensive/used red dots at gun shops and pawn shops. I don't care for the bulk they add to a handgun, but red dots are fun and easy to shoot.

I would agree that a $30 dollar red dot can be fine but I don't care for a large red dot or scope on top of a handgun. I don't like the top heavy feel to it.

I bit the bullet and got a Burris Fastfire II and the mount that goes with it to put it in the rear dove tail where the fixed sight used to be. It's expensive but the enjoyment, quality, light weigh, compact size make me glad I did. I'll end up shooting 1000's of rounds through this as I grow older so I'm glad I spend the money up front and have what I think is a very ideal set up.

I have an older BSA redot I use on a high point 9mm carbine with and aftermarket stock so I can appreciate "inexpensive" but for the 22/45 Id recommend the Burris Fastfire.

And I really recommend mounting it in the rear sight dovetail. It gets the dot closer to the bore axis and it makes it more accurate a greater variety of distances.

Anyway you go you'll have fun with a red dot and this gun. I to have the older eyes and the red dot helps the shooting to stay fun!

1) The reticle (all four versions) is fuzzy and out of focus. Initially I thought it was my glasses or I was doing something wrong, nope, it just looks like crap.

2) It's advertised as having 11 rheostat settings in fact it has 6, 3 Red, 3 Green; where in the heck did the number 11 come from? I wanted more bright options for outdoor use but...

3) The reticle selector switch hits the rear site of the 22/45, so you can either mount it selecting the two options on the end of the switch and that's it. Now you could potentially grind off the switch nub a bit and make it clear but...

4) The allen head wrenches provided didn't quite fit the allen heads being used to mount the scope nor adjust the windage, come ON already, how hard is that to get right.

So I'm sending it back, if it had a more clear picture I could probably deal with the other issues but as it stands why bother.

So is this the kind of stuff I can expect from these earlier generation, left over $50 reflex's? What if I hop up to the $100 mark? And then of course you get up to the Burris Fast Fire, Ultradot level scopes at the $200 mark and I know they're a lot better BUT what do you get when you go to the $350-400 reflex sights?

To me if it's not a clear picture nor clear reticle it's worthless; that's the reason I'm going this direction to begin with to make it easier to see so if I have to spend a few more bucks to get there than that's what I guess I'm going to have to do.

Right now we're sticking with iron sights while I work to figure a way forward here.

I have the sight mark from sportsmans guide on mine and I take shots anywhere from 15 to 50 yards and have no problems,very good scope for the price. If you have a Dunhams Sportingoods near you they sell them for 39.95 and you can save the shipping costs.

New myself. Have older eyes and 4.5" bull barrel 22/45 with fixed sights--looked at a number of red-dots and found the Burris FastFire3 best rated and lightest (1oz), but pricey ($240 on Amazon); the Bushnell TRS-25 seems to be well recommended, little heavier, but much lest expensive ($85 also on Amazon), but have never used it either. Am going to try mounting Ruger target sight replacements and paint with Bright Sight (www.brightsights.com) accents to see if that helps (did try liquid paper on front, which did help a bunch on black targets)--just prefer open sight shooting I guess.

For ammo, I have tried various Federals (bit smokey/dirty) and Remingtons (6 FTF's in 50 subsonics tried, regulars okay) ammuntion, but like the CCI Stingers (copper plated HP, 1640fps) best and most accurate so far.